Curtis Coleman, who heads a food-safety services company, is the latest Arkansas Republican to test the waters for a possible bid to challenge Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln when she runs for a third term next year.

Coleman, the CEO of SafeFoods Corp. in North Little Rock, earlier this week filed paperwork to set up a federal “exploratory” committee that will enable him to raise money for a possible Senate run.

He is a long-time friend of Mike Huckabee, the Republican who was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, sought the 2008 GOP presidential nomination and is considered a possible contender in the 2012 White House contest. Coleman helped run Huckabee’s first political race in 1992, when the Southern Baptist minister unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Sen. Dale Bumpers.